Matilda 'Dixie' Green, who gets dragged into the unfathomable events at Starcourt Mall by her hopeless crush on Billy Hargrove and new-found middle-schooler friends. She struggles to cope with the trauma, which gradually costs her, her popular cheer...
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𐬺 Starcourt Mall 𐮛
Matilda's POV ༒༒1st January, 1985
I was still as a statue on my bed, staring into the darkness of my floral wallpapered room while I listened to the noises outside... soon I heard the front door open and shut, mumbles, Alex and Rebecca were home - I wondered what they thought of me, what all the popular crowd at Hawkins High would think after tonight... I winced.
About ten minutes after I could hear my door creak, it was Rebecca checking to see if I'd made it back home - I shut my eyes to avoid any contact.
The feeling that was left, the anger, it had become tired - it felt like a hangover and I stared blankly out of my window, watching as the sunlight beamed into my room through my curtains. I rubbed my eyes, taking a look at all of the Tiger emblem for Hawkins High on my wall.
I wanted to rip it down - it reminding me of Billy and my screwed reputation, but I was too tired to do anything that required climbing furniture.
I sighed, honeycomb cereal sounds really good right now. I journeyed downstairs, it felt like I was travelling an extremely dangerous route to find treasure.
I silently celebrated as I grabbed the honeycomb without any obstacles. I turned on my heel, my arm deep in the box of honeycomb.
"Oh god - look at the state of you," It was mom, now stood in front of me. She scarily looked down at the box of honey comb and then at my chipmunk-like cheeks filled with the stuff.
"Mom, please," I whine, "I had a really horrible start to the year," I sighed shakily. I couldn't lie - my tired brain couldn't think of a logical one for why I looked the way I did, why I was stuffing my mouth.
She looked at me in disbelief, I looked at the curlers in her naturally dark hair, "Never-mind that, Tillie - your tights!" Her eyes flickered downward at the ladders and rips in them from falling onto the sidewalk when Eddie pushed me, she looked disappointed, a look I was used to getting from her, "Did anyone see you like this?" She gestures towards my outfit, my 'state'.
The words 'Eddie Munson' - it was like I physically couldn't say them, not because I didn't want to cause him any trouble, but because mom would be even more ashamed if I told her that he'd been the one to cause the rip in my tights, "I - a few people at the party - this wasn't Billy... we didn't-," I blush, lowering my voice and I gesture towards myself, "Someone saved me from - being hit by a ca-."
Mom covered her face with her hands, "I am going to have to spend all afternoon trying to fix them for you."
My face drops as she completely disregards me telling her I was almost roadkill, "I can - just get new ones?" I suggest, pointing my thumb over my shoulder before eating some more honeycomb.
